by Rose Buenconsejo
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~oOo~
Cebu can be considered “notable” in the Milo Marathon, firstly, because the Cebu leg has the biggest number of participants. It’s only in Cebu where they have to open another set of slots for 21K category. And secondly, the Milo Marathon 2011 national finals champion and third placer, Mary Grace delos Santos and Mary Joy Tabal respectively, are based here.
But it was brought up during the Milo Marathon press conference that Cebu has yet to produce a male counterpart of delos Santos and Tabal. It’s a bit ironic that there were only 5 women compared to the 26 male qualifiers (including the foreign participants) in 2011 Cebu eliminations, but the women ruled in the Milo Marathon finals. With Melinda Ponce’s passing before the finals last year, it even made the women’s count down to four.
Possible Cebu Flag Bearers
Following is the list of noted elite runners, provided by the Milo Marathon organizers, who will be running this Sunday (October 7, 2012) for the Cebu eliminations leg. (Note: I weeded out the foreigner runners…nothing discriminatory.)
Despite having our own bets and favorites, we have to rally behind all these runners (including those not in the list below) to finish with a very good qualifying time. The more Cebu-based runners who could qualify for the finals, the more are our chances of winning in the national finals.
The list is actually a mix of celebrities, popular personalities, and elites.
21K Category (no particular order)
John Philip Duenas
Allan Coachuy
Bonifacio Monjas
Leo Abello
Noel Tillor
Sherwin Managil
Elmer Bartolo
Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal
Paul James Zafico
Mendel Lopez
Paul James Zafico
21K Women Category
Mary Joy Tabal
Madelyn Carter
Joery Lee
Donna Larrazabal
10K Male Category
Riez Enriquez
Robert Daang
Ronny Andrin
Adonis Singson
Jeffrey Codin
Jordan Bacong
Andy Mejares
Chobie Duenas
10K Female Category
Mary Jane Beboso
Emily Rosas
Emerald Hermosilla
Merlita Dunkin
Aiza Suaybaguio
Rochelle Tan
We did not have access to the complete list of official registrants of the 36th National Milo Cebu eliminations leg 2012 so there might be other runners, your bets, that are missed out.
I am not all familiar with the weekend 21K /10K fast runners, thus I don’t have much input as to who will rule this Sunday. Meanwhile, following are runners I know who will be joining, whom I think also deserve to be part of the list:
21K Male: Jieter Bada (2011 qualifier), Michael Largo
21K Female: Sandra Soliano (2011 qualifier), Odiza “Jade” Abellana (just because we’re friends), Virginia Parajinog
My Bet… no more
Adonis Singson was my bet to be the overall winner in the 21K category before I got the list above from the organizers. He’s a safe bet as his name is always associated with Milo Marathon Cebu, but it seems that he’s also playing safe this time by signing up for the 10K due to injury.
I really have little knowledge of the names provided by the organizers in the 21K male category, but my wild guess would be Mendel Lopez for the reason that Noel Tillor, Paul James Zafico, and Jieter Bada just came from a 50K race weeks ago.
Defending 2nd Placer
Mary Joy Tabal‘s name was always brought up during the Milo press conference to rule this Sunday’s race in the female category. So it can be said that this Sunday’s race is hers. But it would be nice to see the other noted female runners to challenge her aggressively.
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To all runners this Sunday (October 7, 2012), best of clocked-in time to all of you! Give Cebu the biggest number of qualifiers to the Milo Marathon finals!
To get updated with Cebu and around running scene, please LIKE http://facebook.com/runroo.
~oOo~
Rose Buenconsejo is an ultramarathon runner mom-of-three, who loves pounding the trails of Cebu, Philippines. She writes ‘thoughts from the foot’ at rawsole.com.
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